The sound of 19,812 people in absolute silence, but thinking exactly the same thing. A moment of palpable tension.
Shhhhhhh!
Choked screams as Karl-Anthony Towns approached the free-throw line with 14 seconds remaining in the final quarter, and the lead was quickly vanishing.
Shhhhhhh!
The crowd fell silent as OG Anunoby prepared to shoot with seven seconds left to play, hoping the silence would help him focus and keep the growing collective dread at bay.
But the silence did little to stop what had become shockingly and suddenly evident: the New York Knicks were once again facing the ghosts of their past in the playoffs.
And, frankly, it was a bit obvious. Reggie Miller, the “killer” of the Knicks from those playoff matchups 30 years ago, was back on the court, this time commentating for TNT, as the Indiana Pacers recreated some of their best moments on Wednesday night in the first game of the Eastern Conference finals at Madison Square Garden.
He was there after the game, pointing at Tyrese Haliburton after the young and bold point guard paid tribute to him by recreating Miller’s famous “choke” gesture at the end of Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, when he scored 25 of his 39 points in the final quarter and starred in the legendary exchange with Spike Lee that generated a 30 for 30, “Winning Time”, in 2010.
Haliburton said he had seen that documentary “probably 50 times” growing up and that he had been waiting, across two separate playoff series, for the right moment to recreate Miller’s “choking” gesture in front of the MSG crowd.
Tyrese Haliburton
Haliburton said after the game: “That’s just a historic moment. Obviously, him versus Spike, like a one-on-one. I felt like [my gesture] was for everyone. But also for [Miller]. I wanted him to see it more than anything.”
Miller saw it all. So did all the Knicks legends who attended Wednesday night’s game and spent 46 minutes thinking they were on their way to exorcising some of those playoff demons, only to leave shaking their heads at the latest disappointment they’ll have to digest.
A few minutes before Haliburton hit one of the cruellest shots that bounced off the rim in NBA playoff history to tie the game at the end of regulation, the Knicks had shown all their franchise legends on the scoreboard.
- Amar’e Stoudemire
- Carmelo Anthony
- John Starks
- Latrell Sprewell
- Larry Johnson
- Bernard King
- Patrick Ewing
- Stephon Marbury
- Walt Clyde Frazier
- Baron Davis
There were others too. And celebrities like Timothee Chalamet, Larry David, and Ben Stiller. They all knew the story of this rivalry.
And at that moment, it seemed like the Knicks had finally built a lead big enough to show them on the big screen and let everyone applaud with a clear conscience.
The Knicks led by 14 points with 2:51 remaining in regulation. That, by most measurements, is a safe lead. That’s when fans turn to each other and decide whether to leave early to avoid the crowds.
It is then when thoughts about playoff ghosts finally calm down.
But the seeds of the Pacers’ comeback had just begun to germinate.
With 4:45 to play, Brunson stumbled trying to get past a Thomas Bryant screen at the top of the key, leaving Aaron Nesmith open for a three at the top of the key.
Nobody thought much about it at the time. But later, Brunson said he felt that was when the game began to change.
“Once he scores one, you have to be on high alert,” Brunson said. “I have to do a better job of finding him. I think he had one or two on me in the vicinity.”
Jalen Brunson
Nesmith scored six three-pointers in the last 4:45 minutes of regulation.
In the broadcast, Miller coldly poured salt on those wounds.
“Another Nesmith three,” Miller said after Nesmith hit his second three of the fourth quarter. “That’s the great equalizer in our game.”
Few players in history know it better than him.
“My God,” he yelled after Nesmith’s sixth three-pointer cut the lead to two points.
By then, the crowd was silent on its own. No one needed to silence anyone. No one had anything left to say.
Haliburton’s two-point shot, which tied the game, fell like an anvil in everyone’s guts. Overtime was just a pile of indigestion.
“In the playoffs, when you win, it’s the best thing there is,” Brunson said after the game. “When you lose, it’s the worst thing there is.”
Jalen Brunson
However, there was a historical echo that could be a bright spot for Knicks fans. Haliburton even pointed it out after the game.
“I know they didn’t win the series,” Haliburton recalled. The Knicks would go on to win those 1994 Eastern Conference Finals in seven games. “So I wouldn’t want to repeat that.”
